There's more to Schumi's 20-sec penalty

This year's Monaco GP was all about Mark Webber and Red Bull. However, amidst the Bull run, there was an event that seemed like a flashback to the mid 1990s that was dominated by some fierce rivalries between drivers

This year's Monaco GP was all about Mark Webber and Red Bull. However, amidst the Bull run, there was an event that seemed like a flashback to the mid 1990s that was dominated by some fierce rivalries between drivers. Among them was the one between Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill. On Sunday, Hill was among the panel of stewards that handed Schumacher a 20 second penalty for overtaking Fernando Alonso under the yellow flag. The penalty saw Schumacher relegated to 12th instead of the sixth place where he had finished.

Disappointed: Michael Schumacher

Schumacher, who made a comeback to Formula One after three years, said he was disappointed with the result. "My race today would have been pretty normal without the decisions of the stewards afterwards. The result in the end, which put me back to position 12 for now, was obviously disappointing for me," Schumacher wrote on his website.

Meanwhile, before the Monaco GP Damon Hill had said that the past hostility between him and Schumacher would not influence his decisions.

When asked about his role as a steward in a race in which Schumacher would be involved, Hill, who won the 1996 crown, said, "people have to make decisions based on the analysis of right and wrong, irrespective of who those people might be."

"I think I'm sufficiently distanced from it," he had said prior to the Monaco GP.

Meanwhile, Schumacher fully backed his move to appeal against the decision. "Our understanding was that the "safety car in, track clear" message means back to race -- so I went for it and overtook Fernando," Schumacher said.

Schumi vs Hill
In last race of the 1994 season,u00a0 Michael Schumacher, who was leading the championship by a single point, and Hill were involved in a controversial collision at the Australian GP. Consequently, both the drivers retired from the race and Schumacher won the championship by one point.